J.T. LeHoax Hits the Galleries

  Page Six reports today that Laura Albert and Savannah Knoop (the Conspirators Formerly Known as J.T. LeRoy) made their first public appearance this week since the scandal broke. For those not familiar with the story, Albert wrote a series of "semi-autobiographical" books as J.T., a reportedly HIV+, transsexual runaway hustler with a long history as a victim of atrocious sexual abuse. In order to get them published, Albert (a married mother in her 30s) built telephone friendships with members of the literary community, particularly gay author Dennis Cooper, who for years thought that he was helping a young voice get published (LeRoy also had ties to gay director Gus van Sandt, including being credited for the original screenplay for Elephant). After a few books and a movie deal for The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (with Knoop making the few fleeting public appearances that J.T. made), the ruse unraveled, and LeRoy was exposed as not actually existing. Making an appearance at multimedia artist Robert Wilson's new portrait series (which features a pre-exposure portrait of LeRoy -- er, Knoop) with Knoop in tow, Albert said:

For me, J.T. was never a hoax ... people say, 'Well, why don't you apologize.' What for? Because you bought a book? Because you were moved by the words?

Wow. I've got to remember that one the next time I deliberately mislead tens of thousands of people in order to sell a project and get busted for it. Knoop added, "it isn't a hoax. I don't think you can use that word to explain something so sublime." For those of you who want to know more about the whole ordeal, the Wikipedia entry is thorough and fascinating (and the resemblance to Armistad Maupin's The Night Listener adds a whole new creepy dimension to the story). What do you think -- is a lie ever so good or so worthwhile that it becomes "sublime"? Or is that a word we should reserve for legitimately transcendent works of art and really good cheesecake?